Wins may look ugly, but enjoy the ride Gator fans

Florida goes to 10-0

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Well, Florida has won 20 consecutive games now. It's ranked No. 1. It's perfect, glamorous, electrifying, the next guest on Letterman and yet so many Florida fans evidently aren't enjoying this golden run that Urban Meyer sat behind a makeshift table and addressed it Saturday.

It's the most amazing thing. Florida is in the midst of this historical run, with a golden boy at quarterback, but the questions swirling around this team are about the rain clouds at the wedding.

They suggest the sun's too bright, the traffic's too light and reflect one obvious, almost hilarious, issue: Florida followers aren't accustomed to winning with great defense.

It's as simple as that. Winning with defense can look ugly. It can provide bumpy rides like Saturday's 24-14 win against South Carolina.

That's a hard thing for some to accept, as passes keep skipping off fingertips, the scoreboard doesn't spin anymore and, when a big play saved another Saturday, it didn't go into a Heisman Trophy highlight reel.

"About the only place it'll go is my highlight reel,'' defensive end Justin Trattou said after UF stayed unbeaten.

For the last couple of decades, from the time Florida football began to matter under the ball coach on the other sideline, Steve Spurrier, Florida's offense always was on center stage. It didn't just win games. It turned heads with creative plays, runaway scores and those Heisman trophies.

But this is a different Florida team, and it takes a different mind-set to watch, as Saturday again showed. It doesn't play beautiful ball. It has a limited passing game (though it opened the game with a 68-yard touchdown pass). It missed three field goals (though two were more than 50 yards)

"We weren't perfect, obviously,'' Meyer said.

Here's a stat: South Carolina's two touchdowns in Saturday's first half represented a collapse by the Florida defense. It had given up just six touchdowns through the first nine games (two others were scored on opponent interceptions). That's historic.

"We had some things to fix at half,'' defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said. "We didn't have to make adjustments. We just had to start making plays."

South Carolina actually had the day tilting its way by the start of the fourth quarter. That's when, at the Florida 22-yard line, a pass ricocheted into the Trattou's hands. He took off running.

"He had moves,'' Tebow said.

It was 53 yards later before Trattou was tackled. That set up the game-cementing touchdown for Florida.

"It was checkmate, right there,'' receiver Riley Cooper said.

South Carolina had minus-17 yards in the fourth quarter. And that's how it typically goes for this Florida team: The defense sets up the offense. And what's wrong with that?

Yet the ho-hum reaction seems to be getting to Meyer. Perhaps the only other person who understands the expectations at Florida is Spurrier, who said he left in part because of them.

A week ago, Meyer was talking about another ho-hum win and answered with the perfect zinger: "Have you been 19-0 in anything." Saturday, he said, "After the Tennesse game, I made a conscious decision that my computer was not to be turned on."

No e-mail. No fan reactions. No newspaper stories. Nothing.

"Stuff that makes you angry,'' he said.

Any Florida fan nitpicking today is like complaining the traffic is too light. Talk to Florida State fans, if you want to hear real worries. Talk to Miami fans, who want their program to develop with giant steps, not the normal, expected ones.

Florida? On Saturday, it became the 12th team in Southeastern Conference history to go 8-0 in conference play.

"A lot of history being written here,'' Meyer said.

Meyer understands the two would-be touchdowns that ticked off Cooper's fingers and the missed field goals might haunt them some game. But for 10 straight this year, for 20 straight over two years, all Florida has done is win. Enjoy the view, Florida fans. It never lasts forever.